Are you hunkering down in your Western Michigan home for the winter already? Homeowners in Grand Rapids, Holland, and Kalamazoo are turning to their thermostats and cranking up the heat to stay warm, but sometimes even keeping your furnace on full blast isn’t enough to keep your home comfortable (and it certainly isn’t economical). If there are rooms that are chillier than others, or you can feel indoor drafts in certain parts of your house even though all your windows and doors are shut, you could likely benefit from home improvement upgrades.
The best place to start on energy efficiency upgrades for your home is with a home energy audit—here’s how this process works with the experts at WMGB Home Improvement, and how you can use an energy audit to save money at the same time that you’re making your home more comfortable this winter.
What Are the Objectives of an Energy Audit?
A healthy home assessment and energy audit is a comprehensive evaluation of your home that looks at energy efficiency as well as the general health and safety of your indoor environment.
In particular, audits assess where and how heat and air are moving in and out of your home, identifying areas where there is opportunity for improvement. Home performance upgrades can:
- Increase your home comfort
- Lower your heating and cooling costs
- Help avoid moisture and humidity problems
The quality and success of an audit for your home relies both on the expertise of the auditor as well as the building science equipment used to test and analyze your home’s energy efficiency.
At WMGB, the members of our home performance team have conducted a combined 6,000+ energy audits throughout the state of Michigan, and our Building Performance Institute-certified auditors and home performance experts follow national industry guidelines for our audit and retrofit work.
Plus, using technology like blower door tests and infrared thermal cameras, we can scientifically measure your home’s air leakage, as well as locate the exact areas of your home with high energy waste, where energy efficiency improvements would make the biggest difference.
Ways a Home Energy Audit Can Improve Home Comfort
The importance of an energy audit isn’t just the audit itself or the report you get at the end, but what you do with what you’ve learned about your home. Your WMGB Home Improvement auditor will sit down with you at the end of your audit to review the results, and give their recommendations for services that will most benefit your home, including:
- Upgrading the insulation in your attic, exterior walls, or basement
- Air sealing
- Crawlspace encapsulation
- Duct sealing
- Replacing your windows and doors
These services can be used to solve specific issues you’re having in your home, such as:
- Indoor drafts
- Cold floors
- Ice dams on your roof
- High heating and cooling costs
- Uneven temperatures on your first and second floor
- Unhealthy air and indoor air quality issues
Reach Out to the Leading Energy Audit Contractor Near You
At WMGB, we take building science seriously. We were recently named a Michigan Contractor of the Year by Governor Rick Snyder, and as winners of Angie’s List Super Service Award, we have helped countless homeowners improve their home comfort and lower their heating and cooling costs with high quality customer service and home performance work. Check out what our customers have to say about working with WMGB, and reach out today to schedule a home energy audit so that you can stay comfortable all winter long in your home.
